Integrated pump dispenser

ABSTRACT

A fluid dispenser comprising: a reservoir ( 1 ) serving to contain fluid and defining an actuating wall ( 14 ); and a dispensing orifice ( 20 ) via which the fluid is dispensed each time the wall ( 14 ) of the reservoir ( 1 ) is actuated; the reservoir ( 1 ) further containing a pump ( 3 ) defining a pump chamber ( 31 ) provided with an inlet valve ( 32 ) for communicating with the reservoir ( 1 ) and with an outlet valve ( 33 ), the pump ( 3 ) including a pusher ( 34 ) which is pushed in order reduce the volume of the pump chamber, said pusher ( 34 ) being disposed below the actuating wall ( 14 ) of the reservoir; said dispenser being characterized in that a delivery duct ( 21 ) connects the outlet valve ( 33 ) of the pump ( 3 ) to the dispensing orifice ( 20 ).

The present invention relates to a fluid dispenser comprising areservoir serving to contain fluid and defining an actuating wall whichis pressed in order to reduce the volume of the reservoir. The dispenserfurther comprises a dispensing orifice via which the fluid is dispensedeach time the wall of the reservoir is actuated.

Numerous dispensers of that type exist in the prior art. They are used,in particular, for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and perfumes. They arealso to be found in the form of samples distributed free of charge foradvertising purposes, and containing small quantities or “doses” offluid. The dispenser is then in the form merely of packaging formed of aflexible reservoir provided with a dispensing orifice. The user graspsthe packaging between the thumb and the forefinger and presses on theflexible walls of the reservoir to cause the fluid to be dispensedthrough the dispensing orifice.

Unfortunately, that type of dispenser often does not provide gooddispensing quality, in particular good spraying quality, when the fluidis in the form of a liquid, such as a perfume. That is because thespraying is directly dependent on the force with which the user pressesthe walls of the flexible reservoir. If the user presses slowly,spraying is not good, and the fluid tends to drip out rather than beingsprayed out. To mitigate that problem of dispensing quality, thedispenser described in Document FR-2 778 639 recommends imparting apredetermined resistance-to-deformation threshold to the actuating wall,it being necessary to go beyond said threshold in order to deform saidwall. That actuating wall does not deform as soon as the user pressesit. The user must press hard enough to overcome the resistancethreshold. The actuating wall then caves in quickly and suddenly, whichguarantees that the fluid stored in the reservoir of the dispenser isput under pressure immediately. The fluid is then dispensed with goodspraying quality.

An object of the invention is to define another dispenser of that type,i.e. which has a reservoir having a deformable wall, and in which thefluid stored in the reservoir is dispensed in accurately metered mannerand with good spraying quality.

Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,063 describes a dispenser comprising aflexible reservoir made up of two sheets sealed together around theirperipheries. The reservoir contains a pump constituted by a base forminga piston and by a body in which the piston formed by the base isslidably received. The base also forms an inlet valve while the bodyforms an outlet valve. The body also forms a sealing flange to which anopening formed by one of the sheets is sealed. The base and the body areurged apart by a return spring. By bringing the base towards the bodyagainst the force exerted by the spring, the volume of the pump chamberis reduced, and fluid is delivered through the outlet valve thatconstitutes the dispensing orifice. The outer end of the base can belikened to a pusher, and said outer end is situated on the inside of adeformable wall of the reservoir. The outer end of the base cantherefore be moved by pressing on the deformable wall of the reservoir.The fluid delivered by the pump exits from the dispenser at the outletvalve which is situated in alignment with the movement of the outer end.It is thus necessary to be careful, when actuating that dispenser, notto close off the outlet orifice with a finger, particularly since theideal position for the finger serving as the backing finger against thethrust exerted on the outer end is the position of the outlet valve.Therefore, the fingers must be positioned beside the outlet valve sothat the fluid dispensed might come into contact with the fingers, whichis not the desired effect. It is thus not at all easy to use such adispenser. This is due to the facts that the dispensing orifice isformed by the outlet valve, and that the outlet valve is situated at oropposite the deformable portion of the reservoir.

An object of the present invention is to remedy the drawbacks of thatprior art.

To this end, the present invention provides a fluid dispensercomprising: a reservoir serving to contain fluid and defining anactuating wall; and a dispensing orifice via which the fluid isdispensed each time the wall of the reservoir is actuated; the reservoirfurther containing a pump defining a pump chamber provided with an inletvalve for communicating with the reservoir and with an outlet valve, thepump including a pusher which is pushed in order reduce the volume ofthe pump chamber, said pusher being disposed below the actuating wall ofthe reservoir; a delivery duct connecting the outlet valve of the pumpto the dispensing orifice, the dispenser being characterized in that thepusher of the pump is formed by a deformable wall of the pump chamber.It may be a “diaphragm pump” in which the volume of the pump chamber isvaried by a diaphragm being elastically deformed. When the diaphragm ispressed, it is deformed, and as soon as the pressure is released, saiddiaphragm returns to its original position. The return force of the pumpis thus provided directly by the diaphragm. In addition, by offsettingthe dispensing orifice relative to the pump by means of the deliveryduct, the pump becomes completely invisible because it is containedentirely within the reservoir. The user believes that the dispenser isof the conventional type (without a pump). The user perceives a certainamount of resistance to deformation, imparted by the deformable wall ofthe pump. By continuing to press the actuating wall, a dose of fluid isdispensed: its metering and its spraying quality are guaranteed by thepump. A principle of the present invention lies in integrating the pumpentirely inside conventional packaging having a deformable reservoirwall. Integrating a pump into such packaging offers other furtheradvantages: for example, the actuating wall of the reservoir does notneed to have shape memory since it is returned to its initial state bythe return force of the pump that tends to return the pusher back intothe rest position. The actuating wall of the reservoir may thus have ashape that is constant in the rest position regardless of the state offilling of the reservoir. In addition, the pump inside the reservoirimparts some strength to it so that it is easier for the user to takehold of it.

In a practical embodiment, the pump is fitted to a support piecedefining the dispensing orifice. Advantageously, the delivery duct isformed by the support piece.

According to another characteristic, the reservoir is fixed to thesupport piece.

In another embodiment, the reservoir is made up of two deformable sheetssealed together around their peripheries. This is an entirelyconventional design for a dispenser serving as a free sample foradvertising purposes. The term “deformable sheet” should be understoodas extending to film laminates and to thermoformed shells, or to acombination of both.

Advantageously, the support piece is provided with a fixing appendage towhich the sheets of the reservoir are fixed, advantageously by sealing.Thus, the fixing appendage closes off the reservoir.

In a practical embodiment, the support piece forms a recess into whichcomponent members of the pump are inserted. Advantageously, the supportpiece defines a valve seat for the inlet valve of the pump. The supportpiece is thus an integral part of the pump, because said pump cannotoperate without it.

The invention is described more fully below with reference to theaccompanying drawings which give an embodiment of the invention by wayof non-limiting example.

In the figures:

FIG. 1 is a partially cut-away plan view of a dispenser of theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section view through the front portion of thedispenser of FIG. 1, integrating the pump; and

FIG. 3 is a front view of the dispenser of FIGS. 1 and 2.

The fluid dispenser of the invention includes a reservoir 1 containingfluid. The reservoir 1 is formed with a deformable actuating wall 14against which it is possible to press to deform the reservoir, therebyreducing its volume. The reservoir may be in the form of a flexiblepouch made up of one or more sheets of laminated film. For example, thereservoir may be made up of a sheet of laminated film folded in half andsealed around its periphery. The reservoir may also be made up of twosheets of laminated film sealed together around their peripheries. Inanother embodiment, the reservoir may be formed of a shell made of aplastics material, advantageously thermoformed, and to which a closurefilm is sealed to form the reservoir 1. It is also possible to imagineanother embodiment made up of two thermoformed shells sealed togetheraround their peripheries. It is also possible to imagine the reservoirin the form of a flexible tube of the toothpaste tube type which issealed at one end and which is provided with a dispensing orifice at itsother end. The component material of the reservoir and its shape aretherefore unimportant provided that one of the walls is deformable so asto reduce the internal volume of the reservoir.

In the embodiment chosen to illustrate the present invention, thereservoir is in the form of a sheet or of a deformable shell sealedaround its periphery to another sheet or to another deformable shell.The actuating wall 14 is formed at the sheet or shell 11. The two sheetsor shells are sealed together over their entire peripheries 10 exceptfor the end in which a dispensing orifice 20 is formed. The dispensingorifice 20 is formed by a support piece 2 which extends from thedispensing orifice 20 towards the inside of the reservoir 1. The supportpiece 2 forms a fixing appendage 23, which, in this example, is asealing appendage to which the sheets or shells 11 or 12 are sealed. Ascan be seen in FIG. 3, the sealing appendage 23 is diamond or eyeshaped, which facilitates sealing the sheets or shells 11 and 12 to theappendage, and together at the corners of the eye formed by theappendage 23. Thus, the sealing appendage 23 closes off the reservoir 1while forming the dispensing orifice 20 as can be seen in FIG. 3.

Advantageously, the dispensing orifice is formed at one end of anend-piece which extends into the reservoir beyond the sealing appendage23 and which internally defines a delivery duct 21.

In the invention, the support piece 2 supports a pump 3. More precisely,the support piece 2 forms a recess 24 into which pump members arefitted, e.g. by force. In addition, the support piece 2 forms an inletchannel 22 which is separated from the delivery duct 21 by an abutmentblock 25. Admittedly, the support piece supports a portion of the pump,but it is also an integral part of the pump since it defines the inletchannel 22 and the delivery duct 21.

The pump 3 defines a pump chamber 31 provided with an inlet valve 32which puts the pump chamber 31 into communication with the reservoir 1through the inlet channel 22. The pump chamber 31 is also provided withan outlet valve 33 which puts the chamber 31 into communication with thedispensing orifice 20 through the delivery channel 21. The inlet valve32 opens when suction is established in the pump chamber 31, and itcloses when the fluid inside the chamber 31 is put under pressure.Conversely, the outlet valve 33 opens when the fluid in the pump chamberis put under pressure and closes when suction is established inside thepump chamber.

The pump is also provided with a pusher 34 which makes it possible toreduce the volume of the pump chamber 31 and thus to put the fluidcontained in it under pressure.

In the invention, the pusher 34 of the pump 3 is disposed under theactuating wall 14 of the reservoir 1. Therefore, when the actuating wall14 is pressed, the pusher 34 is also pressed, thereby actuating the pump3. Thus, without knowing it, the user actuates the pump when pressing onthe actuating wall 14. The pump is completely invisible because it iscontained entirely within the reservoir 1. A metered quantity of fluidis thus dispensed with good dispensing quality. In addition, the pump 3as secured to its support piece 3 imparts strength to the dispenser andalso exerts on the actuating wall 14 the return force necessary toreturn the wall 14 to its initial position. The actuating wall 14 takesadvantage of the return force of the pusher 34.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the pump 3 is a deformable diaphragmpump. Thus, the pusher 34 is formed by a deformable wall of the pumpchamber 31. The deformable wall 34 is formed by a dome-shaped piece 38whose top portion is formed by the actuating wall 34 and whosesubstantially cylindrical peripheral portion 36 is engaged inside therecess 24 formed by the support piece 2. Below said dome-shaped piece38, i.e. below the portion 36, the pump includes a plate 37 providedwith two through holes 372 and 373 which are situated in register withthe valves 32 and 33. A portion of the plate 37 serves as a valve seatfor the outlet valve 33. Below said plate 37, the pump 3 includes adiaphragm 35 which forms the two moving valves 32 and 33. The diaphragm35 may be in the form of a disk in which two small disks are cut out,while remaining attached to the remainder of the diaphragm. The twosmall disks form the two valves 32 and 33 which are capable of pivotingabout the segments that connect them to the remainder of the diaphragm.The diaphragm 35 abuts against the bottom of the recess 24 which forms aflange 27 that defines the valve seat for the inlet valve 25.Furthermore, the diaphragm abuts against the block 25. By defining theinlet valve, the support piece constitutes a member of the pump, or moreprecisely, that portion of the support piece which forms the recess 24is an integral part of the pump. Making provision for the support piecealso to define the fixing appendage and/or the outlet orifice is merelyan advantageous embodiment. In a variant, the pump, formed of its dome38, its plate 37, its diaphragm, and its recess 24, could be fixed to asupport piece that defines the outlet orifice and/or the fixingappendage. Forming the recess integrally with the support piece ismerely an advantageous embodiment.

This is a non-limiting embodiment for the pump 3 integrated inside thereservoir 3. Naturally, it is possible to imagine any form of pump whosepusher can be actuated through the wall 14 of the reservoir. However,flat pumps are preferable so that the dispenser has a small thickness.The flatter the pump, the more the dispenser resembles a conventionaldispenser not provided with a pump.

It should be noted that the pump 3 shown in FIG. 2 is particularlysimple in design because it is made up of four component members only,namely the dome 38, the plate 37, the diaphragm 35, and the supportpiece, which members are very easy to manufacture. The resulting pump isparticularly inexpensive. The support piece 2, which may, for example,be made of an integrally molded plastics material, is very simple tomanufacture and therefore very inexpensive. It is thus possible tomanufacture a dispenser serving as a free sample.

What is claimed is:
 1. A fluid dispenser comprising: a reservoir (1)serving to contain fluid and defining an actuating wall (14); and adispensing orifice (20) via which the fluid is dispensed each time thewall (14) of the reservoir (1) is actuated; the reservoir (1) furthercontaining a pump (3) defining a pump chamber (31) provided with aninlet valve (32) for communicating with the reservoir (1) and with anoutlet valve (33), the pump (3) including a pusher (34) which is pushedin order reduce the volume of the pump chamber, said pusher (34) beingdisposed below the actuating wall (14) of the reservoir; a delivery duct(21) connecting the outlet valve (33) of the pump (3) to the dispensingorifice (20), said dispenser being characterized in that the pusher ofthe pump (3) is formed by a deformable wall (34) of the pump chamber(31).
 2. A dispenser according to claim 1, in which the dispensingorifice (20) is defined by a pump support piece (2) to which the pump(3) is fitted.
 3. A dispenser according to claim 2, in which thereservoir (1) is fixed to the support piece (2).
 4. A dispenseraccording to claim 1, in which the reservoir (1) is made up of twodeformable sheets (11, 12) sealed together around their peripheries(10).
 5. A dispenser according to claim 4, in which the support piece isprovided with a fixing appendage (23) to which the sheets (11, 12) ofthe reservoir (1) are fixed, advantageously by sealing.
 6. A dispenseraccording to claim 1 in which the pusher of the pump (3) is formed by adeformable wall (34) of the pump chamber.
 7. A dispenser according toclaim 1, in which the support piece (2) forms a recess (24) into whichcomponent members of the pump (3) are inserted.
 8. A dispenser accordingto claim 2 in which the support piece (2) defines a valve seat (27) forthe inlet valve (32) of the pump.